ADDIS ABABA, June 18 (Reuters) - An internet blackout in Ethiopia last week cost the economy millions of dollars and crippled businesses, but an analyst said it was unlikely to have a long-term impact on government plans to privatise the telecoms sector.

The country’s only internet service provider, state-owned Ethio Telecom, cut internet access and disabled text messaging between Tuesday and Friday, without explanation.

The shutdown overlapped with a conference of multinational mobile operators. Ethiopia has one of the world’s last major closed telecoms markets, and the cash-strapped government is seeking up to $2.2 billion in private investment for a much-needed upgrade.

The previous government shut off the internet in 2017 and in early 2018 during periods of political unrest. But there were no major protests in Ethiopia last week.

Ethio Telecom apologised in a tweet for the outage but gave no other information. “I am not going to comment on anything regarding the internet shutdown,” executive director Cherer Aklilu told Reuters.

But despite the chaotic circumstances of the shutdown, the opportunity to enter an untapped market of 100 million people would be too tempting for most telecoms operators to pass up, said William Davison, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“It (the shutdown) will reaffirm to investors that there’s considerable unpredictability to the economic, political, and security environment in Ethiopia,” he said. “But these hopefully short-term problems are unlikely to significantly discourage their interest in the long-term market opportunities.”